OUT TODAY:
KAREN JONAS’ NEW EP SUMMER SONGS
AND
BOOK OF ORIGINAL POETRY GUMBALLS
With regular use of pedal steel, Jonas’ songs are perfect for honky-tonks where it’s not unusual for people who have just met to become dance partners. That being said, her delivery is so smooth and sweet, she could just as easily provide the vocals for a band in a dark jazz club. On top of that, Jonas writes touching songs that are vignettes of everyday life and everyday people. - PopMatters
Jonas sings with a warm vibrato that makes like a mix between Lana Del Rey and Cowboy Junkies, evolving into an unforeseen summer go-to - Glide Magazine
A delightful feel good fix for any Summer - Maximum Volume
Any listener of Karen Jonas’ music will recognize the trademarks of her fearless talent in this beautiful, gutting collection of poetry. Karen Jonas is already acknowledged as a master songwriter and storyteller, but in these unflinching, often wryly funny poems, the narratives of love, heartbreak, and the daily grind of being alive are unmisted by noise, audience, and stage. — Erika Carter, author of Lucky You, NPR Best Book of 2017 and official Book of the Month Club selection
This is what you get when a kickass woman writes poetry--you get dirty, wet, delicious, dark, relatable worlds full of wonder, light, rage, and revelation. - Susie Moloney, award-winning screenwriter and author of A Dry Spell
LISTEN: SUMMER SONGS
Today, award-winning artist Karen Jonas has released Summer Songs, a new four-track EP, along with Gumballs, a book of original poetry. “Over the course of a raw week in January, I wrote frantically. I didn’t worry about what my kids or my mother or you would think, I just wrote. When I amassed over 60 poems, vignettes of hard scenes from my life, I realized I had written a book, covering everything from divorce to religion to dating to spiders,” Jonas recalls. Writing this vastly personal autobiographical collection of poems allowed her to find a more vulnerable place to embrace these gems from her old songwriting notebooks.
“I began to hear flashes of these songs as I was writing my poetry collection, songs I started writing years ago. I reconnected with them and spent a lot of time reprocessing and editing,” she adds. “I was able to update them to my current songwriting sensibilities while maintaining the sweet vulnerability of the inspiration for these summer-themed tunes.” The result is Summer Songs, three heartfelt originals and a show-stopping cover of Don Henley classic “The Boys of Summer.”
“On her forthcoming EP, singer-songwriter Karen Jonas leans into the song's ability to take listeners back in time with her own version,” said The Boot in the premiere of “The Boys Of Summer.” “There's a bit more pedal steel in Jonas' cover than in the original, and particularly in the chorus, the artist uses her voice to tweak the familiar melody here and there to add something new to it.”
WATCH: “THE BOYS OF SUMMER”
"Somewhere along the way, I got tough because I had to," Jonas told The Boot. "Balancing my complexity as a human with my roles as a touring singer-songwriter and a mother of four has been amazing, but challenging and consuming. Things are easier when you’re tough: You can weather more storms and move farther faster. But, to find that place and still be vulnerable, raw and genuine — that’s the artist’s dream. So, I took it on,” she added. “I assessed the state of who I am and where I’ve been, and why, with as much clarity as I could.
A two-time Wammie Award winner for Best Country Artist, Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest Winner, and Ameripolitan award nominee, Jonas is known for her stellar songwriting, sultry vocals, and compelling stage presence.
Her long-time collaboration with dazzling guitarist Tim Bray, joined by bassist/vocalist Seth Morrissey and drummer Seth Brown, has produced five full-length records, beginning with 2014’s internationally-acclaimed Oklahoma Lottery. Her much-lauded 2020 LP The Southwest Sky and Other Dreams is a gutting masterpiece - proof of her ability to weave creative depth into everyday stories.
Through swooping pedal steel and bluesy guitar, lush harmonies and beautifully-crafted lyricism, Jonas paints a vibrant sonic portrait with stories to which we can all relate—tales of love and loss, and of hope and reclamation. Jonas’ writing harkens back to her songcrafting heroes Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, with a sonic nod to modern greats like Gillian Welch and Jason Isbell. Her investment in artistic excellence continues to pay off with Summer Songs.
Summer Songs is available for download at iTunes, Amazon, and Bandcamp. Gumballs is available for pre-order at karenjonasmusic.com.
TOUR DATES:
Aug 20 - WTJU In-Studio - Charlottesville, VA
Aug 21 - Strangeways Brewing - Fredericksburg, VA
Aug 28 - Brambly Park - Richmond, VA
Aug 29 - Pie Shop - Washington, DC
KEEP UP WITH KAREN JONAS:
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